James had been living in his apartment in inner Sydney for more than two years when the agent called and told him he had to move within seven days.
“I was working during the day. I was looking for places and did everything, but it’s hard out there,” the 44-year-old says.
“There were so many people at every inspection I went to.”
On day seven of his frantic search he went home and the locks had been changed. He called the agents and they would not answer. He spent the next two weeks sleeping in the park.
James, who did not want to use his real name, works as a forklift driver in Botany. He is on a casual contract and on a good week makes about $900.
But in this housing crisis a job is often not a strong enough shield for homelessness and James is among a growing cohort of people who are employed but don’t have a stable home.
Homelessness NSW says services are seeing a sharp increase in people living in cars, or with friends, but trying to hold down a job.
Data shows there are about 35,000 people who are homeless in New South Wales and about 10,000 of them have some form of employment.
Amy Hains, the acting chief executive of Homelessness NSW, says a lot of those people would be casual workers who might get one or two shifts a week in a cafe and have been hit hard by the cost-of-living crisis.
“Unemployment is low but underemployment is also significant,” she says. “So being employed doesn’t actually mean that you’re living above the poverty line.”
Being employed, or having more than $5,000 in the bank, can lock people out of homelessness services, Hains says.
“If you’re a person with a family $5,000 isn’t a lot,” she says. “Even a small amount of income or a relatively small bank balance can mean you’re exempt from accessing things like temporary accommodation.”
James knows this first-hand. He was told he earns $20 a week too much to access social housing.
“I need to work – I love to work – but it’s also a hindrance,” he says. “I can’t get assistance because I am over the threshold.
“When I was evicted I rang a homeless service and they wouldn’t help me because I worked. You’re just going to have to stay in the park.”
James is on the waiting list for public housing. But a report from the Community Housing Industry Association released on Friday showed the waitlist for priority social housing in NSW had increased by 1,000 to more 7,500 in the past year.
“The rental market in Sydney is horrendous,” James says. “I’m willing to pay the rent, but I can’t pay $450 a week for a one-bedroom unit. I can’t afford that on my wage.”
Anglicare Australia’s latest rental affordability snapshot released on Monday reveals the rental crisis has become so deep that essential workers are being priced out of their homes.
Some of them have fallen into homelessness.
Colleen Carina, 60, is an assistant nurse who is now struggling with homelessness. She recently took a job at an aged care facility in Coffs Harbour and had been offered a permanent position, but when they found out she didn’t have a rental she was given casual hours.
“I’ve got a little camper van I was staying in,” she says. “But when I’m working it’s quite difficult. You know, it’s not easy.”
She contacted Mission Australia who have put her up in a motel until they help her find something more stable.
“I’m looking at rentals at $460 a week,” she says. “Say I’m making my average wage, maybe $600 or $700 a week, by the time you pay for fuel, you put money away for electricity, or even a car account – how do you live?”
She says she can’t look to the future because she panics. So she tries to live in the now.
“It doesn’t matter what profession you do: homelessness does not discriminate,” she says. “There’s just no housing.”
The rental affordability report surveyed nearly 46,000 listings across the country, showing an aged care worker or community services worker could afford only 1% of available properties.
For the lowest-paid worker on the list – a hospitality worker – only one property was affordable in the Northern Territory, six in Western Australia and 71 in Victoria. The majority of those were sharehouses.
“Virtually no part of Australia is affordable for aged care workers, early childhood educators, cleaners, nurses and many other essential workers we rely on,” Anglicare Australia’s executive director, Kasy Chambers, said.
“They cannot afford to live in their own communities.”
